The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters

by Leon Claire Metz

  Sheriff Whitehill led many Apache patrols, fought in numerous skirmishes, and was generally considered a brave and courageous man. Although commonly characterized as the sterling example of an unarmed lawman who talked brigands into the jailhouse, that description was somewhat belied by the fact that one day while at the courthouse, he bumped into the corner of a table and the revolver in his pocket discharged. The bullet struck a bystander.

  Naturally, Whitehill had responsibility for a host of administrative duties, but on the criminal side, he successfully presided over one double hanging, plus several single ones. He performed admirably in developing solid leads, properly identifying the suspects, and arresting those involved in the Gage train robbery (the first in the territory), in which train engineer Webster was murdered. A major portion of the much-sought-after reward went to Whitehill.

  Whitehill defeated Pat Garrett for a seat in the territorial legislature at Santa Fe, and after that campaigned for and was elected Grant County sheriff. He also had extensive ranch holdings on the Mimbres River. After the loss of his first wife, Harriet, Harvey remarried and settled at Deming, where he continued to oversee his cattle operations and realestate holdings until his death from natural causes on September 9, 1906. Had he not incarcerated or even met Billy the Kid, his life would still qualify as a rich one.

  See BILLY THE KID; CLEVELAND, GEORGE WASHINGTON; GARRETT, PATRICK FLOYD JARVIS

  WILD Bunch

  Most outlaw gangs in the Old West were loosely knit groups of men whose membership, relationship, leadership, personalities, and numbers varied across months and years. However, only one of these groups had the name Wild Bunch. The initial Wild Bunch participants seem to have been Robert Leroy Parker, better known historically as Butch Cassidy; Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid; Ben Kilpatrick, better known as the Tall Texan; Harvey Logan, better known as Kid Curry; William Ellsworth Lay, better known as Elza Lay; and Flatnose George Curry. Other well-known stalwarts included Matt Warner, Tom McCarty, and Will Carver. Around 1889 or 1890, these men collectively formed the nucleus of a gang known as the Wild Bunch (a newspaper-it is unclear which-coined the name). As outlaw groups go, this one was more cohesive than most, although at best it never numbered over 30, and a majority of these drifted in and out. There does not seem to have been any clearly defined leader, although outlaws such as Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and the Tall Texan made most of the headlines and tended to be the spokesmen. Harvey Logan (Kid Curry) was the most homicidal.

  The gang operated out of localities with such interesting names as Hole-in-the-Wall, located in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains, Robbers Roost in Utah, and Brown's Park in Colorado. After Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fled to South America sometime around early 1902, the Wild Bunch essentially ceased to exist.

  .See rco: BROWN'S PARK; CARVER, WILLIAM RICHARD; CASSIDY, BUTCH; CURRY, GEORGE SUTHERLAND; HOLE-IN-THE-WALL; KILPATRICK, BEN; LAY, WILLIAM ELLSWORTH; LOGAN, HARVEY; ROBBERS ROOST; SUNDANCE KID; TURKEY CREEK CANYON, BATTLE OF

  WILLIAMS, Andrew Jackson (1841-1887)

  Andrew Jackson Williams-usually called A. J. Williams-was born in Conway County, Arkansas, his father Curtis being a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln through Lincoln's mother's side of the family. The family moved to Eastland County, Texas, during the early 1870s. There, local ranchers accused him of rustling. By the 1880s, the Texas authorities led by Jones County sheriff George Scarborough had chased him into Chaves and Eddy Counties of New Mexico. There they captured and returned him to Texas. Although acquitted on all charges, Williams tried to escape from jail as well as bribe the sheriff. So Scarborough pressed additional charges. On October 3, 1887, Williams spotted George Scarborough and his brother Will in the Road-to-Ruin Saloon in Haskell, Texas. Williams, bent on assassination, slipped into the saloon with a shotgun, but the lawmen had been warned. The Scarborough boys killed him. Subsequently charged with murder, both were found not guilty and released. George Scarborough was defeated in his bid for reelection as sheriff.

  WILLIAMS, Charles (1861-1880)

  Originally from Ohio, this 25-year-old made a name for himself at Shakespeare, New Mexico. By some accounts Williams was a cattle rustler working his way through Texas. But regardless of his vocation, or lack of one, "Charley" Williams spent most of his time sucking down drinks in saloons.

  On June 1, 1880, Charley stepped out of the Roxy Jay Saloon and noticed a resident taking a nap. The consumptive F. W. Mollitor had not the slightest idea his end was near. When Williams's "eyes fell upon the prostrate man lying on the bench, he drew his own pistol, turned it toward him and fired. Not a word had passed between them." Townsmen quickly arrested Charley and sent him to Grant County sheriff Harvey Whitehill at Silver City.

  Williams arrived at Silver City, was placed in jail, and was later released on a $1,000 bond. However, he argued with a man named Crittenden over a mining claim. In this case, Crittenden, the mine owner, took a page from the Williams book. He leveled his rifle at Charley and shot him dead. The case against Williams for murdering Mollitor was closed with a simple notation in the county jail book, "Died by wound before trial-July 23, 1880." As for Crittenden, he vanished into Mexico.

  .36E a190 WHITEHILL, HARVEY HOWARD

  WILLIE Boy (1881-1909)

  Willie Boy probably had a "real" name, but if so it wasn't recorded. His father was probably a Paiute Indian, his mother a Chemehuevi. By 1900, he was living in Victorville, California, and working as a farm laborer. He was arrested there in 1905, charged

  with drunkenness and disturbing the peace. A judge sentenced him to two weeks in the San Bernardino County jail.

  Wille Boy had previously tried to marry Nita Bonaface, but her father, "Old Mike," refused to bless even the possibility of marriage. Willie then either eloped with her or kidnapped her, but Mike Bonaface and his family tracked them down and at rifle point took his daughter back. But Willie would prevail. The Bonaface family worked for the Marshal Gillman Ranch near Banning, where the workers usually camped on the property. On the night of September 26, 1909, Willie Boy slipped into the Gillman house, removed a .30-30 Winchester rifle, walked out to the sleeping Bonaface family, and shot Mike through the left eye. He took Nita with him as he fled, leaving the Bonaface family so terrified that they did not report the slaying until late the next day. The greatest manhunt in the history of southern California now began.

  Although Willie Boy knew the country, he was on foot and pulling along a terrified girl. As for the posses, they were usually mounted, automobiles being of no use in that rugged, roadless country. Nevertheless, the posses did not know where to search, although they suspected that Willie was heading for Mexico. So ranchers were notified, travelers were warned, and small settlements mobilized. As the net tightened, Willie felt the pressure and realized the girl was slowing him down. She likely was not as affectionate as he had hoped, and knowing that the two of them could never outrun their pursuers, he shot her in the back, leaving the body where it lay. A posse found her remains on September 30.

  Willie continued east toward Twentynine Palms, California, and the Colorado River. On October 6, 1909, several posse members cut Willie's trail on Bullion Mountain, but while the lawmen discussed strategy, Willie commenced shooting with that same stolen Winchester, killing four of the posse's five horses and wounding Deputy Sheriff Charles Reche in the hip. Reche spent the rest of the day lying in the hot sun, since nobody could get to him.

  Willie, always short of ammunition, saved his last round for himself, sticking his big toe against the trigger and shooting himself in the chest. The posse-hearing the shot-did not attach any significance to it. The lawmen assumed it to be a stray round.

  On October 15, still another posse discovered the body of Willie Boy, shot through the chest, dead by his own hand. The body was so badly decomposed that posse members cremated it. Since then several books and articles have been published, as well as a movie, entitled Tell Therr7 Boy Is Hem. As a result of this publicit
y, Willie Boy, instead of being an outlaw and murderer, has become something of a social hero and legend.

  WILSON,Vernon Coke (1855-1892)

  By 1876, Vernon Coke Wilson, a nephew of Texas governor Richard Coke, had made it from Virginia to Texas. Enlisting in the Texas Rangers on September 23, Vernon Wilson eventually served under the noted lawman Capt. Neal Coldwell.

  Somewhat unusually, especially for a daring Texas Ranger, Vernon Wilson seemed rather inept with firearms and in the handling of livestock. But had "B movies" been around at that time, Vernon would have been a natural, for he was noted for his excellent guitar playing and pleasant singing voice.

  Vernon Coke Wilson's claim to fame as a Texas Ranger comes not from an audacious shootout but for a message-carrying mission. Holding the rank of a ranger corporal, Wilson was at Austin, the state capital, performing administrative tasks when speeding events overtook months of systematic plodding. Learning of at least a viable chance to intercept Sam Bass and his gang at Round Rock, Maj. John B. Jones confronted two perplexing problems: there were neither rangers nor a telegraph near Round Rock. Wilson therefore saddled his gray horse and rode 65 miles to Lampasas by dawn, arriving in time to catch the stagecoach. Undaunted but exhausted, Wilson took the stage from Lampasas to San Saba, a 50-mile trip. Upon reaching town, he located a stable, rented a horse, and finally reached the ranger camp, some three miles distant, where he gave his message to Ranger lieutenant N. O. Reynolds. The lawmen gathered their arms and ammunition, saddled their horses, loaded a wagon, and departed for Round Rock. Wilson hopped into the back of the jostling wagon and went to sleep.

  Oddly, Wilson never participated in the Sam Bass gang shootouts on July 21, 1878. Nevertheless, in recognition of his outstanding effort and the exhausting ride, Major Jones awarded Vernon the rifle belonging to Sam Bass, a well-deserved trophy.

  Wilson then moved on to become chief of mounted inspectors for Arizona and New Mexico Territories in 1885. Later, he traded that job for a position of special officer for the Southern Pacific Railroad, stationed in California.

  On September 13, 1892, during a blistering battle with train robbers John Sontag and Chris Evans at Sampson's Flats, California (near the western edge of the Sequoia National Forest), Vernon Coke Wilson died in a hail of bullets when the outlaws emerged from a cabin. Other lawmen avenged his death. Sontag was later killed outright; Evans, although severely wounded, survived and was imprisoned.

  S66 9o: BASS, SAM; JONES, JOHN B. SONTAG, JOHN

  WILSON, William (a.k.a. Billy; David L. Anderson) (1861-1911)

  This desperado/lawman was born in Trumbell County, Ohio, moved to Texas, and from there went to Lincoln County, New Mexico. He owned a livery stable, and on the side he counterfeited money. After being exposed, Billy transferred to the Pecos River region, where he joined up with outlaws, including Billy the Kid. He was captured by Sheriff Pat Garrett and his posse during the Christmas 1880 standoff at Stinking Springs, not too far from Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The territory charged Wilson with counterfeiting money, and a Santa Fe court assessed 25 years. Wilson escaped, however, and moved to Texas, where he married and, on August 1, 1891, was appointed a mounted inspector for the U.S. Customs Service. New Mexico governor William T. Thornton, a former attorney for Wilson, now filed a plea for a presidential pardon. Two men who wrote letters in Wilson's behalf were former Lincoln County sheriff Pat Garrett, now U.S. Customs collector in El Paso, Texas, and James J. Dolan, formerly of the Lincoln County War house of Murphy. That was a generous and forgiving act on Dolan's part, since he had once been the recipient of one of Wilson's phony $100 bills.

  Wilson received his pardon on July 24, 1896, and went on to become sheriff of Terrell County, Texas. He was killed by a drunken cowboy and buried in Bracketville, Texas.

  See aISO: BILLY THE KID; GARRETT, PATRICK FLOYD JARVIS, LINCOLN COUNTY WAR

  WILSON, William (?-1875)

  By most accounts William Wilson was a paid assassin. This supposed Texan rode into Lincoln, New Mexico, and on August 2, 1875, shot and killed Robert Casey, a Texas cattleman who had criticized the Murphy-Dolan organization, a faction deeply involved in New Mexico's forthcoming Lincoln County War.

  Wilson thus became the first person legally hanged in Lincoln County. As he stood on the trapdoor, he reportedly started to confess but also to accuse Lawrence Murphy of paying him to kill Robert Casey. But as Wilson started to speak, Murphy kicked the trapdoor release, and Wilson plummeted through. He seemed to die almost instantly, so the body was removed and placed in a coffin.

  Later, as everybody sat around eating their lunches, a woman began screaming, saying she had seen Wilson breathing. Two factions now began arguing. One claimed that he had already been hanged, so he should be revived and released. The Murphy faction screamed otherwise. Its members placed a rope around his neck, jerked him back to the crossbar, and kept him hanging there until everyone was absolutely certain he was dead.

  SEE (JISo. LINCOLN COUNTY WAR

  WINCHESTER

  Winchester is one of those weapons with a romantic name, but the .44-40 center-fire weapon, with its allsteel action, was useful as well as popular. Furthermore, the gun held 14 rounds with one in the chamber. Its heft and feel made it suitable for shortas well as long-range shooting. Its most popular calibers were .44-40, .38-40, and .32-20. The weapon was as reliable as it was indestructible.

  WOODMAN, May (1856-?)

  Less than two years after the infamous Tombstone shootout between the Earps and the Cowboys, another hell-to-pop yarn was born on Allen Street in front of the Oriental Saloon. In February 1883, an unidentified person placed a notice in the -it Pi reporting that Bill Kinsman intended to marry May Woodman. An angry Kinsman then took out a notice of his own, publicly declaring he was not then or ever going to tie the matrimonial knot with Miss May Woodman. To a rough crowd of sporting

  men and miners it had all been a joke. But to May Woodman, it was humiliation. On February 23, 1883, the 27-year-old May Woodman, .38-caliber revolver in hand, walked up to William Kinsman and shot him dead. Upon realizing that she had indeed killed him, May jubilantly jumped about, glad he was dead. The pair had been cohabiting.

  In May 1883, May was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in the territorial prison, but while languishing in the Cochise County jail awaiting her transfer, she attempted suicide by overdosing on morphine. The renowned Dr. George Goodfellow managed to save her life. Later, while still in the county jail, May suffered a miscarriage. By that time public sympathy had switched from the victim to the shooter, but May went to prison anyway.

  Among allegations that while in custody May Woodman had once again became pregnant, a number of prominent citizens signed petitions requesting her release. Acting Governor H. M. Van Arman, seeking to rid himself and the territory of any further death and bad humor, offered May Woodman a deal. He would release her if "she would immediately go beyond the limits of this Territory and continue to reside without the limits of the Territory of Arizona." May accepted the conditional pardon on March 15, 1884. She walked out of prison, caught a westbound train for California, and dropped from sight.

  WORTHINGTON, Peter (a.k.a. Jack Gordon) (1825?-1864)

  Peter Worthington is generally thought to have been born in Maryland or Virginia. At the age of 17, he killed a man and fled west, probably to El Paso del Norte, present-day Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. Here in late 1846, during the Mexican War, Worthington signed on with Col. Alexander Doniphan and his Missouri Volunteers, then invaded Chihuahua. By some accounts, Gordon later lived with the Mescalero Apache of southern New Mexico and rode with them during raids on white settlements. In 1849, he acted as a guide for both the army and the rangers against the Indians. Around 1850, he left for California.

  For the next few years, Jack Gordon was rumored to be traveling with lawmen in search of rewards, or being chased by lawmen who sought him on charges ranging from horse theft to
highway robbery and murder. To his way of thinking, Gordon sometimes had to kill in order to acquire a certain horse, and once he had done so, there was no reason for qualms about emptying the pockets of unlucky victims. After all, they had no further use for gold.

  In April 1858, a trader identified only as "the Dutchman" killed his partner, an equally obscure individual known only as Harris, rumored to be carrying $4,000 on a pack mule. Gordon then tracked down and killed the Dutchman, but according to reports found no money on him.

  Gordon had obviously come into funds, however. Some of it he spent in opening his own hog-raising business, then in a partnership with a rugged Pole called "Old Cap," but formally referred to as George Groupie. Of course, both partners accused the other

  of less than honest acts and intentions, and the partnership broke up with Old Cap threatening to kill Gordon.

  In late December 1864, the two men met on the street at Tailholt, California. Groupie fired first, his shotgun pellets striking his opponent in the belly. Gordon sank immediately to his knees, muttering, "I'm killed." Bystanders carried him to the nearby store of Levi Mitchell, where Gordon, seeing Groupie approaching, squeezed off a revolver shot. Down went Old Cap.

  As it turned out, Old Cap survived, but Jack Gordon did not live through the night. He was buried behind Mitchell's store. The state did not prosecute George Groupie.

  YARBERRY, Milton J. (a.k.a. John Armstrong) (1849-1883)

  Although he was born at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, as John Armstrong, somewhere along the line John changed himself into Milton J. Yarberry. Under that assumed name, he checked out of this world and into the next.

  Reportedly, when still in his twenties John Armstrong murdered a man in Sharp County, Arkansas, or so thought the sheriff, who posted a $200 reward. Armstrong escaped the charge only to be implicated in another killing at Helena, Arkansas. From there he remained "on the dodge" and continued his ill-conceived career choices. Reportedly, John Armstrong teamed up with "Mysterious" Dave Mather and Dave Rudabaugh, creating a rustling gang that operated between Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Texarkana, Texas. Rumor held the trio responsible for the death of a prominent cattleman, killed when a robbery went bad. Regardless of his guilt or innocence, Armstrong was under the impression that the law was closing in on him, and he killed a man walking behind him one day, thinking he was a detective. He was mistaken-it was "an inoffensive traveler." Little difference did it matter to John, however; he scooted over to Decatur, Texas, and assumed the new name of "Johnson."